hi there,
if you were looking for a place that has the beach and 10mins away the mountains and bushland i'd recommend queensland,caloundra sunshine coast australia. than if you would like to check out the mountains and bushland which is not far at all from caloundra check out Glasshouse mountains, queensland,australia: Beerwah queensland,australia.try these sites: http://www.queenslandholidays.com.au, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_Coast,_Queensland, http://www.australianexplorer.com/caloundra.htm
try those for a look around. only thing really with caloundra is the rent is high but places like glasshouse mountains,beerwah & landsborough is where its a bit cheaper.hope this helped.
kylie :)
Did you happen to relocate to Australia? I have been researching relocation from the US and was wondering how the process was. What to expect and so forth?